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Puneet Issar is an Indian actor and director, most famous for his role as Duryodhana in the TV adaptation (1988–1990) of the Mahabharata, and directing Garv: Pride and Honour (2004) starring Salman Khan.^[1] His other notable roles are in Border, 1997 war film, directed by J. P. Dutta ] and second lead in cult Indian horror film Purana Mandir in 1983.

He started his career with the movie Coolie in 1983. During filming an action sequence of this movie, he accidentally injured Amitabh Bachchan nearly fatally.^[2][3] and suffered industry's backlash due to it.^[4][5]

Career[link]

Issar starred as a villain in several movies (over 150 Hindi films and 100 regional^{[citation needed]}) during the 1980s and 1990s, like Zakhmi Aurat, Jagruti, Kal Ki Aawaz, Pale Khan, Teja, Prem Shakti and many more, which include the Mohanlal starrers Yodha and Pingami, Salman Khan starrers Sanam Bewafa, Chandramukhi and Suriyavanshi, Akshay Kumar starrer Aashant and multi-starrers like Kshatriya. He also played a villain in the Shahrukh Khan starrer Ram Jaane. He appeared in the hit war film Border. in 1982 he was involved in an on shoot incident with Amitabh Bachhan. Amitabh got seriously hurt in in the incident. Many blamed Puneet for the incident. He later admitted that he had to face lot of problem in getting roles in movies due to the notoriety of the incident. Some people even beveled that amitabh's clout might have had effected his carrer very much He also starred in recent movies, like Krrish, Partner, Aryan,Bachna Ae Haseeno and many more. He played the role of as Duryodhana in epic TV series, Mahabharat (1988–1990), directed by Ravi Chopra.

He played the Indian Superman in 1987, a Bollywood version of the Hollywood movies. He played the second lead in the cult Indian horror film Purana Mandir in 1983. Later he did many another horror movie's like Tehkhana in 1980's

He has also directed TV serials such as Hindustani and Jai Mata Ki starring Hema Malini.^[5] He has starred in over 12 TV serials like Junoon, Sahil, Noor Jahan, Vikram Aur Betaal and many more. He has appeared in over 1800 episodes on Indian television. He played the role of King Bimbisara in the feature film Gautama Buddha - The Life and Times of Gautama Buddha. He also starred in Left Right Left of the Indian Channel Sab TV. He has also worked in number of Punjabi films such as Rab Ne Banayian Jodiyan and in a few Telugu films. He has also given a brilliant display of his acting skills in the mythological film Suryaputra Shanidev, which released in 1997.

In 2004, Issar directed the film Garv: Pride and Honour starring Salman Khan and Shilpa Shetty in lead roles. The opening collections of the film good, and was overall declared "Above Average" at the Box office.^[6] His latest directorial venture I Am Singh, the story of which is also written by him, released in December 2011. The film did average critically and commercially.^[7]

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

• Coolie (1983)
• Purana Mandir (1984)
• Pyar Ki Jeet (1987)
• Roti Ki Keemat (1990)
• Sanam Bewafa (1991)
• Jaagruti (1992)
• Suryavanshi (1992)
• Yodha (1992) (Malayalam)
• Chandra Mukhi (1993)
• Kshatriya (1993)
• Pingami (1994) (Malayalam)
• Prem Shakti (1994)
• Yaar Gaddar (1994)
• Kranti Kshetra (1994)
• Ram Jaane (1995)
• Hathkadi (1995)
• Bhagya Debata (1995) (Bengali)
• Muqaddar (1996)
• Border (1997)
• Master (1997) (Telugu)
• Suraj (1997)
• Daadagiri (1997)
• Jodidar (1997)
• Sher-E-Hindustan (1998)
• Refugee (2000)
• Zakhmi Sipahi (2001)
• Bhairav (2001)
• Indra (2002) (Telugu)
• Tagore (2003) (Telugu)
• Allari Pidugu (2005) (Telugu)
• Bunty Aur Babli (2005)
• Aryan (2006)
• Gautama Buddha (2007)
• Partner (2007)
• Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)
• Josh (2010) (Bengali)
• Yamla Pagla Deewana (2011)
• Ready (2011)

Television[link]

• Mahabharat (1988–1990)
• Param Vir Chakra (1998)
• Hindustani (1999)
• Love Story (2007)
• Neeli Aankhen (2008)
• Dwarkadheesh - Bhagwaan Shree Krishn

Director[link]

• Garv: Pride and Honour (2004)
• I Am Singh (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Puneet Issar at the Internet Movie Database
• Puneet Issar at Bollywood Hungama